Pre-germination treatments and use of seed blower in Gochnatia polymorpha

Abstract

The propagation of Gochnatia polymorpha is usually made via seed propagation, but the germination rates obtained are frequently low. We aimed to verify the effect of pre-germination treatments and the use of seed blower in G. polymorpha seeds. Seeds from two different lots were used in two experiments. First, we evaluated the efficiency of the pre-germination treatments: immersion in hot water (98 °C), immersion in water at room temperature, immersion in 20 mg.L^-1 gibberellic acid solution, oven-drying at 30 °C, and control treatment. In the second experiment, seeds were processed in a blower, for removal of empty seeds. After the pre-treatments, seeds were then subjected to the germination tests on paper at 25 °C under constant light. On seeds from the first lot, no difference was observed between the effects of treatments immersion in gibberellic acid solution, oven-drying, and control. As for seeds from the second lot, similar values were obtained for the effects all treatments (average 55%), except immersion in hot water (0%). Thus, no pre-germination treatment is needed for seeds of the species. The use of blower enhanced physical and physiological quality of both seed lots, increasing germination from 34 to 76% in lot 1 and from 7 to 51% in lot 2.  Therefore, we recommend using the seed blower in order to obtain G. polymorpha seeds with higher physiological quality, with no additional pre-germination treatment needed.